Pre-running opens Saturday on rugged, record long Race Route for 32nd annual SCORE San Felipe 250

Entries to date from 20 States, 6 countries, Start/finish along Sea of Cortez on Malecon

in San Felipe; to be televised internationally; Start Position Draw on Tuesday, March 27

ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico – Allowing three full weeks of practice on the longest course in the history of this race, pre-running opensSaturday at 8 a.m. PDT for the upcoming 32nd annual SCORE San Felipe 250. The season-opener of the four-race internationally televised 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship, the ever-popular ‘spring break’ race expects over 250 entries in Pro and Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads.

Featuring a rugged Baja race-record route of 315.2 miles, the race will start and finish for the second straight year on the Malecon beach walk along the water’s edge in the heart of town, the event will be held April 4-8 in San Felipe, the peaceful fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, 125 miles south of the U.S. Border at Calexico, Calif.

With many of the sport’s top stars among the first 101 official entries as of today, the racers are from 20 U.S. States along with the additional countries of Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy and host Mexico.

FAB FIFTY

All four 2018 races will be held on Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula for the third consecutive year.
The year of 2018 also marks the 50th anniversary celebration of the legendary BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500 to be held the end of May and beginning of June. The SCORE Baja 500 is one of the top 10 motorsports events held annually in the world.

A COURSE WITH ‘NO NAME’

SCORE President Roger Norman and SCORE Race Director Jose A. Grijalva have worked with the government officials and ejidos of the Mexicali and San Felipe areas to develop a memorable SCORE San Felipe 250 race course of 315.2 miles, the longest in the history of this popular desert race.

This year’s grueling race course will be another beauty to behold but a tough challenge to race on. It runs in a counter clockwise direction running over high-speed dry lake beds, through low-speed winding, rock-strewn, twisting canyons and trails, along quick-paced dirt roads and through four of Baja’s most infamous washes in Las Cuevitas, Matomi, Huatamote and Amarillo.

There will be three full stop checkpoints in addition to the start/finish line which will be located for the just the second time in the history of this race on the Malecon in the heart of San Felipe. Checkpoint 1 will be located at El Chinero (race mile 74.2), the second at La Providencia (rm 185.5) and the third will be at Old Puertecitos Road (rm 270.33).

The course goes north to Zoo Road, west to Morellia Junction then heading back north, east, north again, south, west and back north to the finish line on the Malecon.

For the first time there will be a speed zone from rm 10 to rm 14 in the Zoo Road area for safety reasons. There are a total of only three speed zones on this course for a total of just 5.2 miles.

The course will use a few new trails then goes through Las Cuevitas wash to go back to the east side near 3 Poles. It then goes north to checkpoint 1 running up to La Ventana, back south to Laguna Amarga (Borrego). From there it will go across Matomi, Old Puertecitos Road, through Huatamote and Amarillo before heading back to the finish line on the Malecon.

There will be two road crossings, both on Highway 3. The first will be going north at km 192 after checkpoint 1 and the second one coming south near Laguna Amarga (Borrego), crossing at km 179 on the highway.

The start line and celebratory finish area will be on the SCORE ramps in front of the Rockodile night club on the Malecon.

COURSE MAP/GPS

The 32nd Annual SCORE San Felipe 250 racer brief, course map and GPS files will be available by 8 p.m. PDTthis Thursday on the SCORE website on the race page under the Race Info tab.

SCORE RULE BOOK UPDATE NOW ONLINE

Under the supervision and direction of SCORE CEO/President Roger Norman, SCORE Race Director Jose A. Grijalva and SCORE Tech Director Dan Cornwell with editing and updating by SCORE Ops personnel Lawton Shank and Christine Wait, the 2018 SCORE Rule Book has been updated along with the 2018 Rule Book Addendum and is now online.

All relevant items are available on the SCORE website under the race info page and the Addendum summarizes the additions and changes to the SCORE rule book starting with the 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship.

THREE DECADES-PLUS

Celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the youngest of the three legendary SCORE Baja races, sometimes referred to as the SCORE ‘baby Baja’, entries are being accepted on the SCORE website under Race Info at www.SCOREInternational.com for Pro and Sportsman entries for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads.

SAN FELIPE SKED

Pre-race festivities will be held in San Felipe on April 4, 5 and 6 with race days on Saturday, April 7-8 concluding with the post-race awards fiesta at 10 a.m. PDT on Sunday, April 8.

The colorful pre-race contingency and Manufacturer’s Midway, the starting line and the finish line will be on the Malecon in the heart of San Felipe for the second straight year.

The deadline to enter in time to be in the drawing for starting positions within each class is 8 p.m. PT on Tuesday, March 27.

Motorcycles and quads will leave the start line first in the elapsed-time race, starting at 6:20 a.m. PDTon Saturday. The car, truck and UTV classes will begin their journey at approximately 9:30 a.m. PDT, at least two and one-half hours after the last Sportsman Quad starts.

While the fastest vehicles are expected to complete the course in just over five hours, all vehicles will have 16 hours from the time each starts to become an official finisher.

FAB FIVE

While three racers have three overall victories in the SCORE San Felipe 250, Las Vegas’ Hall of Fame racer Rob MacCachren might have set a standard that will last for awhile, unless he breaks his own record of five overall and SCORE Trophy Truck wins this year.

MacCachren, who won the overall in San Felipe last year to give him nine class wins in this race, earned his first SCORE Trophy Truck overall in this race in 2003 when he split the driving with Mexico’s Gustavo Vildosola Sr and his second in 2007 when he split the driving with Mark Post.

MacCachren earned back-to-back wins in 2011 and 2012 driving solo and won his fifth last year driving solo again in his No. 11 MacCachren Motorsports Rockstar Ford F-150.

For over three decades, the annual motorsports festival that has brought the largest economic impact of any single event held annually in this lightly-populated portion of the rugged, rough and bountifully beautiful Baja peninsula has been the SCORE San Felipe 250.

ANOTHER GOLDEN YEAR

Following last year’s epic celebration of the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000, this year’s SCORE World Desert Championship includes the special tribute to the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500 when it is held this year in Ensenada on May 30-June 3. Like all SCORE races, there will be classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads.

The SCORE Baja 500 is one of the top motorsports events in the world. It was started originally in 1969 by the NORRA organization. Mickey Thompson and his SCORE International organization were invited by the Mexican government to take over the event in 1974. Sal Fish ran and later owned and produced the SCORE Baja 500 for 39 years until he sold SCORE to Roger and Elise Norman in December of 2012.

The first Baja 500 organized and produced by SCORE was held on July 26, 1974 as the first of over 150 SCORE Baja races that have been held to date.

Ensenada is the heart and soul of the SCORE Baja 500 as the popular summertime race. It will start in Ensenada for the 45th time and finish in Ensenada for the 41st time.

BFGoodrich Tires, the SCORE official tire for over 40 years, has posted a $25,000 contingency bonus for the overall winner of the golden anniversary race.

SCOREscope

Below is the four-race 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule. For the third consecutive year all four races are being held in Baja California, Mexico. Here is the complete 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule: